Ngmoco's "We Rule" on the iPad and the iPod Touch.
Josh Lowensohn/CNET

The iPad is many things to many people, but the area where it stands to make the most change is in mobile gaming.

Until now, gamers have been left with two very different options for mobile gaming. One is user portables like the Sony PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS. The other is to lug around a beefy laptop for games, which can work just fine but be a burden on your body and nomadic lifestyle.

The same way the iPhone shook things up for the world of mobile phones, the iPad could end up doing the same for portable gaming. Its big touch screen and cellular data connectivity (at least on the 3G models) will no doubt help in launching new and popular franchises. There's even a patent filing from 2008 that could bring docking hardware that would add real tactile buttons and an analog joystick.

Until that day arrives, there are a handful of games at launch that are simply iterations of existing iPhone games. We've rounded up 20 that can be found on both platforms. Then we stuck them side by side so you can see the differences.

The two huge caveats with this slideshow are that:
1) Our photo viewer does not currently let you see full-size, pixel-for-pixel screenshots
2) We didn't start out with those anyway--at least for the iPad.

All the shots you see (with a few exceptions) are the ones provided by the developer, and found in the App Store. With that warning aside, click on the slideshow link below to see the differences.

About the author

Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
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